By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

The show was only going to end one way, because it was the ending everyone wanted.

The clock was ticking on the Iowa women’s basketball team’s 104-75 win over Cleveland State on Saturday, and it was time for the Hawkeye starters to exit the stage.

Gabbie Marshall, Kate Martin, Molly Davis and Hannah Stuelke left the court with 6:20 remaining in the game.

Iowa coach Lisa Bluder left Caitlin Clark in the game. It was not time for her to go.

She had to at least hit one more shot on a day when so many fell. A 40-point day was within her range, so why not chase it?

Thirteen seconds later, Clark had a turnover, her ninth of the day. Nope, not the way to go out.

Twenty-six seconds later, there was Clark, in the corner, a wide-open 3-pointer available.

And with the snap of the net, the sellout crowd for more than 14,000 fans was at its loudest.

Clark, so close to the crowd after the shot, decided to celebrate by high-fiving as many fans as she could in the front row.

There was a dead ball at the 5:27 mark — Clark was charged with a foul — and at that point, it was time to go.

Her final line was so similar to so many others over her four seasons with the Hawkeyes — 38 points, 13-of-21 shooting, 9-of-16 in 3-pointers, five assists, five rebounds.

This was her night at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines. She grew up in West Des Moines, and she had played in the city twice before at Drake’s Knapp Center.

This was different. 

“Yeah, it’s really special,” Clark said. “This is probably the game that was circled on the calendar for myself.”

It’s been a career of calendar-circled events, and Clark has performed on whatever stage is out there.

They packed a large chunk of Iowa’s Kinnick Stadium to see her in October. They showed up on a neutral court to see her and the Hawkeyes face Virginia Tech in November. Every chair that could fit into Northern Iowa’s McLeod Center had someone sitting in it. Carver-Hawkeye Arena is filled every night.

And now this game, in her hometown, in an arena where she had watched so many events as a kid, played in state tournaments as a high school player. Clark returned as the reigning national player of the year, climbing up the NCAA’s scoring charts, the top spot likely in reach later this season.

Clark has embraced every moment, yet there were times on Saturday, when there was a dead ball, when she looked around the arena and took in the atmosphere.

She wasn’t perfect.

Go back to the nine turnovers. Someone pointed out the number of 3-pointers Clark had and she responded, ““I didn’t know if you were going to say nine threes or nine turnovers.”

Her trademark area code 3-pointers brought a shrug or a tongue wag, or maybe that gesture of, “Yep, I made that.”

And then there was the 3-pointer she heaved that hit nothing but the backboard, causing Clark to cover her mouth in embarrassment.

“I know when I made nine (3-pointers) but I felt like a couple more could have dropped,” Clark said. “I thought they were going to go in minus the one that didn’t even hit the rim that I shot for about half court.”

Saturday’s game came less than a week after the WNBA’s draft lottery, when the Indiana Fever got the No. 1 draft pick next spring.

The Fever wants Clark. Everybody in Indiana wants Clark. The WNBA wants Clark. ESPN wants Clark, because the network isn’t getting her ratings until the NCAA tournament because it doesn’t have the rights to Big Ten games.

Clark has one extra year of eligibility she can use, though, having played during the season of the COVID-19 pandemic when everyone was granted an additional year to play by the NCAA.

Clark has not said if she is going to stay or go. Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said this week that she would support Clark’s decision, no matter what, knowing that the four years she was going to get with the All-American guard anyway had already provided everything, and more.

Everybody thinks they know what Clark should do, but we’ll know when she decides to tell us.

Until then, there are more shows, more stages, more moments ahead. So enjoy them.

The ending might not be what everyone wants. But Clark will make sure it was a hell of a ride.

Photo: Iowa coach Lisa Bluder greets Caitlin Clark after she exits Saturday’s game. (Brian Ray/hawkeyesports.com)